Thomas Hardy (1840–1928). Wessex Poems and Other Verses. 1898.

6. Postponement

SNOW-BOUND in woodland, a mournful word,

Dropt now and then from the bill of a bird,

Reached me on wind-wafts; and thus I heard,

Wearily waiting:—

“I planned her a nest in a leafless tree,

But the passers eyed and twitted me,

And said: ‘How reckless a bird is he,

Cheerily mating!’

“Fear-filled, I stayed me till summer-tide,

In lewth of leaves to throne her bride;

But alas! her love for me waned and died,

Wearily waiting.

“Ah, had I been like some I see,

Born to an evergreen nesting-tree,

None had eyed and twitted me,

Cheerily mating!”

1866.